More pessimistic state revenue estimates released this week could breathe new life into tobacco and alcohol tax increases that lawmakers thus far had ignored.

The state’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group said Monday that Kansas should expect to collect about $5.71 billion in taxes in the fiscal year that begins July 1. That’s almost $100 million less than the group of economic experts estimated in November, making a difficult budget puzzle even more vexing for legislators.

The American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network quickly seized on the new projections as evidence legislators should increase the tobacco tax.

“Making tobacco significantly more expensive is a powerful economic tool that will save lives and cut health care costs while also addressing Kansas’ budget shortfall,” said Reagan Cussimanio, the group’s government relations director in Kansas.

A Kansas House committee has approved legislation that would let convenience stores sell full-strength beer and allow grocery stores to sell beer, wine and liquor. The proposed changes, which would take effect in 2018.

Republican Rep. Scott Schwab says this change will be convenient for Kansas consumers. He says in his family, his wife doesn’t want to go to a liquor store while out shopping.

Legislators are looking to ban the sale of powdered alcohol in Kansas — before it even hits liquor store shelves.

“We as an industry want you to go ahead and help us take care of this powdering product before it becomes an issue,” Spencer Duncan, a lobbyist for the Kansas Wine and Spirits Wholesalers Association, told the House Federal and State Affairs Committee Tuesday.

The path to wholeness for those whose lives have been touched by addiction is always different. But for at least one group of Kansas Citians, that road has been filled … with writing. Poetry and prose that chronicle and process and maybe even transform the struggle.

On Friday's Up to Date, guest host Brian Ellison talks two women taking part in an annual reading of work stemming from addiction.

Music is often connected with emotions, but what about food? Can a cocktail taste like a song? On Thursday's Central Standard, we spoke with two Kansas City bartenders who recently completed a feat of synesthesia - creating original cocktails inspired by songs from local musicians. The event was called Mixtapes & Mixology.

Imagine watching a group of men mutilate the body of your mother. This is what poet Edgar Allan Poe experienced as a hallucination brought on by alcohol-induced delirium tremens, DT’s. On this edition of Up to Date, Steve Kraske talks with historian Matthew Osborn to discover how this condition, first described in 1813, was the catalyst for changing how the medical profession diagnosed and treated the problems of alcohol abuse.

Excessive alcohol use accounts for almost one in 10 deaths among working-age adults in the United States, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study, released late last week, found that from 2006 to 2010 excessive use of alcohol killed nearly 88,000 Americans each year. In 2001, the last time CDC researchers reviewed the data, alcohol was blamed for almost 75,800 deaths.

Many people enjoy a glass of wine or a beer to loosen up, but sometimes those just don't quite do the trick. From Moscow Mules to Brandy Alexanders, a good cocktail can be a great companion to a nice meal or a casual social event.

On Friday's Central Standard, guest host Charles Ferruzza is joined by the Food Critics to find out where the best cocktails in Kansas City are.

In recent years, we've heard a lot more about texting and driving than we have about drinking and driving. But drunk driving is still prevalent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol-impaired car crashes account for nearly one-third of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

As spring revelry leads to late nights out, Central Standard asks whether Kansas Citians are making plans to get home safely, and if not, why not?

Molecular mixology is a scientific approach to preparing cocktails that uses alcohol in unique ways.

These mixologists use chemistry to create cocktails with different tastes, textures and phases of matter. Arielle Johnson, a Ph.D candidate at UC Davis and a Flavor Chemist at Nordic Food Lab along with author Kevin Liu explained the science behind molecular mixology. And for those not as fluent in chemistry as Johnson and Liu, Scott Tipton of the Kill Devil Club in Kansas City created some drinks in studio to explain to the common bar goer.